


you're looking for a boyfriend (i see that)

by renjunethereal



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bad Matchmaking, First Dates, Fluff and Humor, Idiots in Love, Jaemin's dumb but at least he's cute, M/M, Maybe Jaehyun too, Nahyuck Try to Out Confident Gay Each Other, Romance, Yangyang the only one with brain cells
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:14:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21654328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/renjunethereal/pseuds/renjunethereal
Summary: Jaemin's determined to take Donghyuck on the best date of his life, regardless of whether or not he's the one taking him out.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Na Jaemin
Comments: 14
Kudos: 215
Collections: ’00 FIC FEST: ROUND ONE





	you're looking for a boyfriend (i see that)

**Author's Note:**

> SHES HERE ok this probably isn't my best work but it was kind of fun to write! For those who want to know my prompt was #00114:
> 
> Jaemin offers to be a wingman for his freshly heartbroken friend Donghyuck. Jaemin tells to his own dates about the several failed attempts, but how he's determined because 'Donghyuck deserves the world'. That is until, one date points out that he might be a little in love with Donghyuck himself.

“We were together for a year. A whole year. But he just...left.” Donghyuck says, voice slightly muffled into the hardwood of the bar table. It’s not often that he looks like this, mopey and gloomy, clouds covering his usually sunny personality.

Jaemin rubs reassuring circles into Donghyuck’s back as the bartender comes by to refill Donghyuck’s drink. Jaemin glances at the gold name tag on his chest—Yangyang. “You look like you need it,” he says, offering Donghyuck a sympathetic smile.

“He was a dick anyways.” That’s a lie. He’s met Donghyuck’s boyfriend multiple times, and all of those times he’s been nothing but charming and courteous. But Donghyuck lets out a weak laugh that shakes his shoulders and puts a smile on his face, so it doesn’t really matter if it’s true or not.

“You know what you need?” Jaemin says, and smiles when Donghyuck stops smushing his face into the table to look up at him through his eyelashes. “First, drown your troubles away with alcohol, and second, find a better, less dickish guy to go out with and make you forget about him.” 

“I don’t know,” Donghyuck mutters. “I don’t think I’m ready to get back out there, not this soon. Besides, casual dating is so tiring. You never know if someone’s an asshole until the first date, and then you're stuck with them for like, an hour.”

Now, Jaemin is many, many things. He’s a people person, a meddler, but above all: he just wants his friends to be happy. It’s this combination of traits that makes a lightbulb go off in his pretty little head, makes him do that wide, toothy grin that he’s told makes him look just slightly unsettling.

“Why don’t I set up your dates?” Jaemin blurts before he can think better of it.

“What?” Donghyuck asks, eyebrows furrowed.

“I literally know everything about you,” Jaemin says. It’s true—ever since they first met each other, both freshmen in the same drama class, they’ve been inseparable ever since. “And I know plenty of cool people to introduce you to!” 

Donghyuck still looks a little doubtful, so Jaemin starts turning on the charm. “Pleeaaaseee please please please, I’ll set you up on the best date ever and you’ll have an awesome time and you’ll get a super hot non-asshole boyfriend out of it. Please?” He clasps his hands together, jutting out his lower lip and batting his eyelashes in a way he knows makes his eyes look extra big and shiny. Jaemin stares at him then, an elongated silence stifling the atmosphere as Jaemin slowly closes the distance between them and Donghyuck breaks.

“Okay! Okay! Just stop making that face...it’s weird.” Jaemin gasps, clutching his heart in mock offense, before bouncing back up again into a bright smile. (Two nights later, when he’s sleepless from too many thoughts, he’ll realize that a small part of him actually felt hurt. Just a little.)

“You’re so weird.” Donghyuck mutters, but his eyes are fond, words having no real bite to them. Jaemin finds himself looking at him the same way, and he lets the moment drag on for a bit before his eyes narrow again, teasing.

“You’re just bitter because I’m cuter than you.” Donghyuck squawks indignantly, and then everything turns back to normal, with Jaemin nearly falling off the barstool with how much he’s laughing and Donghyuck facing Jaemin with a murderous look before joining him.

(Later, when the alcohol has settled in and their minds are a little bit looser, they’ll challenge each other to an aegyo battle and demand that Yangyang be the judge. There was no clear winner, mostly because the poor Yangyang’s too nice for that and that they already moved on, immediately forgetting what they were fighting about.)

  
<3

Jeno is, quite honestly, the best possible person Jaemin could have chosen. He’s kind, funny, and just in general pretty damn adorable. Hell, if Jaemin felt that way he’d date Jeno in a heartbeat. And he’s a _gamer,_ he has a _Twitch_ —Donghyuck would eat him up.

Which is why he’s very, very confused when Donghyuck calls him the next morning to say that that was one of the worst dates he’s ever had. Jaemin’s not sure what went wrong—he played it safe and set them up on a movie date. How terrible could you be without talking for two hours?

“Oh my _god_ , Jaem.” Donghyuck moans, the muffled sound of rustling fabric invading Jaemin’s ear. He must be trying to drown into the bedsheets again. “That was the most uncomfortable date I’ve ever been on. That movie you chose? Apparently he saw the same movie with his ex-boyfriend right before he broke up with him—you should have seen it, it was like a dam breaking. I felt really bad for him.”

Jaemin winces. Yeah, that’s pretty bad. “After the movie ended he was still crying and he wouldn’t move so I had to try and coax him out. All I said was ‘Jeno,” and he just started sobbing harder. ‘Re-Renjun used to call me that,’ like no shit dude, it’s your fucking name!” 

Jaemin stifles a snort into his fist, playing it off as a cough. “Damn, that sounds awful.” 

Donghyuck sighs, and there’s a definitive _fwump_ , which leads Jaemin to believe he’s sunken into the mattress again after getting himself worked up. “At the very least he apologized for the whole thing after. I told him that he’s probably not ready for dating again, and he agreed. We kinda just left it at that.” 

“I’m really sorry,” he says, softly so Donghyuck knows he means it. “I thought you two would have really hit it off.”

“Mm, maybe in a different life.” Donghyuck says, indifferent. Jaemin feels bad now—he promised Donghyuck the best date of his life, after all. 

“Okay, okay, what if I try again? You guys can go eat somewhere, so at the very least you’ll have good food if it doesn’t go well—even though it will! I’ll make sure of it this time.”

Donghyuck lets out a disbelieving exhale. “If you say so.”

  
  


<3

After some searching around in his contact list, some heavy staring at the wall as he imagines the very specific reasons as to why Donghyuck would pour water over the candidate’s head, and then some more searching around in his contact list, Jaemin has finally found Donghyuck’s (new) perfect date.

Byun Baekhyun—and Jaemin’s sure of it this time—is Donghyuck’s perfect date. Jaemin met him while working at a cafe over the summer, the two becoming good friends after countless day and night shifts together. Donghyuck and Baekhyun have nearly _everything_ in common, even more than Jaemin does. They have the same taste in music, in clothes, in makeup—hell, they even like dying their hair the same colours.

Jaemin thinks he’s really lucked out on Baekhyun when he books reservations for two at a Korean BBQ place—a restaurant he’s sure they’ll both love.

He lets himself into Donghyuck’s apartment for the night while Donghyuck’s away, mostly because there’s nothing to eat at Jaemin’s place and Donghyuck has all the good games.

He's in the middle of the Madarame boss fight, sprinkles of cheeto dust on his shirt, when the door unlocks and Donghyuck’s walking through the door.

“Hey!” Jaemin greets as he pauses the game right before Yusuke lands an attack on one of Madarame’s eyes.

It never occurred to Jaemin that he never knew what Donghyuck looked like when he goes out on a date. A foreign sensation runs through him as Jaemin looks Donghyuck up and down, taking in his ripped skinny jeans and artfully tousled hair, makeup making his eyes have a smokier, feline quality to them.

It’s not until Donghyuck's done changing into his bear-themed house slippers and making his way over to him with a smile that the spell is broken and Jaemin remembers that it's just Donghyuck. His Donghyuck.

“How was your date?” Jaemin asks as Donghyuck sits next to him on the couch. Donghyuck yawns as he stretches, obviously worn out, but the smile on Donghyuck’s face tells Jaemin that it went well.

“Good, I guess. I don’t know, we got along great and everything but there wasn’t really...a spark, y’know? I think we’re too similar—it’d be like dating myself.” Jaemin opens his mouth then, but Donghyuck holds up a hand to his face before he can say anything.

“And yes, I know, I said I would totally date myself, but this isn’t the same thing. Besides, Baekhyun’s like a brother to me.” Jaemin huffs. He really thought they’d be a good match.

Donghyuck’s focus shifts to the screen then, eyes lighting up. “Hey, are you on the Madarame boss fight? Give me the controller, I’ll show you how to beat him.” 

The night ends with Jaemin and Donghyuck beating Madarame in his smarmy, plagiarising little face, and Jaemin finds himself remembering that he’s supposed to be upset about another failed date, except he isn’t, not when Donghyuck’s sticking his tongue out in concentration as he times his attack on a shadow perfectly.

“What’re you looking at?” Donghyuck asks when he catches Jaemin staring. Jaemin shakes his head.

“It’s nothing.”

  
  


<3

The next date is cut almost impressively short, because Donghyuck makes it pretty clear by the way he spams Jaemin’s phone with messages like “get me out of here before i do something illegal” and “im gonna punch him im gonna pUNCH HIM IM GONNA PUNCH HIM” that Donghyuck has some issues with the guy Jaemin’s chosen.

When Jaemin gets to the date spot—another restaurant—Donghyuck looks like he’s two seconds from blowing steam out of his nose like an angry bull, glaring at his date with so much fierce hatred that Jaemin’s half surprised that the guy isn’t bursting into flames.

Turns out that Jaemin should have really done a thorough background check on the guy, because he’s cheated on not _one_ , but _two_ members in Donghyuck’s choir. _At the same time_. Jaemin cringes—the guy had such an unassuming demeanor! He thought it would be fine!

So to make up for a frankly embarrassing mistake on his part, Jaemin drives Donghyuck to a nearby diner and buys him the largest milkshake they offer.

Jaemin offers a weak smile as he watches Donghyuck suck lengthy gulps through his straw, shoulders still tense and gaze still fierce.

“God, his stupid asshole face makes me so mad, I can barely even enjoy this fucking milkshake.” Donghyuck grumbles, but still dips his head down to go in for another lengthy sip. Jaemin levels him with a look, because he knows they both see the family of four at the table next to them, and smiles his first real smile when Donghyuck lowers his voice obligingly. 

“Maybe I’m not as good as matchmaking as I thought.” Jaemin sighs, dejected.

“Awe, don’t say that.” Donghyuck says, “it’s not your fault that you’re unlucky.”

Jaemin pouts. “That sounds like it’s totally my fault.”

Donghyuck stops sipping his milkshake to reach for Jaemin’s hand on the other side of the table. “Hey, stop putting yourself down. It’s really nice of you to do all of this in the first place, just so I could get a boyfriend.” 

Jaemin’s pout only gets deeper. “Yeah, but what’s the point if you don’t _actually_ get a boyfriend at the end of it?” 

“It doesn’t matter. You know why? Because at the end of the day you’re still an amazing friend, and if you’re actually getting stress over this maybe we should just stop.” 

“No!” Jaemin shouts immediately, making the family beside them flinch. Jaemin smiles sheepishly at him before turning to Donghyuck again. “I have...I have another guy to set you up with. Last one, I swear.” 

Donghyuck raises an eyebrow from where he’s leaning in to gulp his milkshake. “Okay, but if he’s another jerk like the other guy I’m gonna—” Donghyuck breaks his sentence off with a hiss, suddenly curling in on himself as he cradles his head in his hand.

“What’s wrong, are you okay?” Jaemin’s already reaching out for him, rubbing circles into the highpoint of Donghyuck’s cheekbone in attempt to soothe him.

“I have a brain freeze.” Donghyuck whines, and Jaemin fights the urge to laugh at Donghyuck’s antics (though one would argue that he’s just as dramatic), instead cooing sympathetically as they both wait for his brain freeze to go down. If the family next to them is staring at them with inquiring eyes, Jaemin can’t be bothered to care. 

  
  


<3

Okay. So maybe there was a reason Jaemin’s taken so long to set Donghyuck up with this guy, but he’d rather die than admit to himself.

Jung Jaehyun is arguably the most perfect human to ever exist, with his dimpled smiles and baritone voice and fit stature. He’s also one of Jaemin’s dorm mates. With all of the things he’s got going for him Jaemin expected him to be a total dick, except he’s _not_. He’s easygoing and funny and just generally a good person, the kind of guy that sings the 1975 on top of his lungs and makes friends easily.

Donghyuck would...Donghyuck would love him. And for some mysterious, inexplicable reason, that statement sits oddly in Jaemin's stomach, like a picture frame that's tilted just slightly too far to the right.

Jaemin sets them up on a date to the arcade Friday night, and waits in his room. For what, he’s not sure. All he can think about is the two of them racking up a load of tickets, Jaehyun winning Donghyuck something from the claw machine because Donghyuck _sucks_ at claw machines, Donghyuck laughing at something Jaehyun said, the kind of laugh that scrunches his eyes up and brightens up the room and makes him shine especially brightly _._ Donghyuck leaning into Jaehyun’s space at the end of the night and—

The familiar ringing of his phone snaps him out of his trance, Jaemin feeling like someone just splashed cold water on his face. He looks over at the screen; it’s Donghyuck.

“Hello?” Jaemin says, trying his best not to let his voice waver. 

“Hey! Just wanted to say that you finally succeeded! The date went great.” Donghyuck says. Jaemin wants to be happy for him, he really, really does. But he can’t.

“That’s great!” Jaemin says, because it actually is even if he can’t let himself believe it. “Are you...going to see him again then?” There’s a beat of silence that makes Jaemin’s breath hold in his lungs and his free hand clutch his blanket.

“Nope.” Wait, what?

“What? Why? Didn’t you just say it went great?” Jaemin asks, disbelieving. He refuses to notice how he relaxes after hearing that word.

“Well it _did_ go great, but he told me afterwards that we’d be better off as friends. I mean, I don’t really mind either way, it’d be nice to go on a second date but friends are cool too. You know he got the new high score on the basketball hoops?” Donghyuck says something else after that, but Jaemin’s still stuck on the fact that someone would willingly _not_ date Donghyuck. He hasn’t considered that factor before, mostly because Donghyuck was, well, Donghyuck. Anyone would be lucky to date him.

“Hellooo? Anyone home? You’re awfully quiet today.” Donghyuck says, and Jaemin blinks.

“Right, sorry, I’m just...tired.” He lies, kind of. He’s not sure what he is right now.

“I keep telling you that those eight shot americanos are gonna fuck you up, but _noooooo_ , _they’re the only way I get through classes_ ” Donghyuck says in his best Jaemin impression. It’s pretty spot-on. “Go to sleep, idiot. I’ll see you in the morning.” 

Jaemin, despite himself, smiles. “Yeah, you too.” 

<3

  
  


“Jaehyun!” Jaemin shouts when he manages to catch him in the hallway. 

Jaehyun turns around, flashes one of his perfect smiles. “Hey! What’s up—oh, okay we’re going over here now—” He says as Jaemin grabs his arms and pulls him to a secluded corner.

“Don’t ‘what’s up’ me, why did you reject Donghyuck?” Jaemin asks, never one to beat around the bush. 

Jaehyun’s perfect eyebrows furrow. “I didn’t _reject_ him, all I said that we’d be better off as friends.” 

“But why? Donghyuck is literally the best boyfriend you could have. He’s funny, and pretty, and—”

“Personally, and I mean this in the least offensive way possible, just not my type.” Jaehyun finishes. “Don’t get me wrong, he’s really fun to be around, but I’m not gonna keep going out with him because I won’t be as interested in him as he wants me to be.” 

“But—he’s so—I’m sorry, I just can’t grasp the idea that anyone he goes on a good date with wouldn’t be head over heels for him.”

At this, Jaehyun raises an eyebrow. “I don’t know, Jaemin. Maybe _you’re_ the one that’s head over heels for him.” 

Oh. _Oh._ A screw locks into place, a lightbulb goes off, a dam breaks because Jaemin just had an epiphany and _oh my god he has a crush on Donghyuck_ —

“Oh my god I have a crush on Donghyuck.” Jaemin whispers. Jaehyun huffs out an amused breath, nonchalant as Jaemin’s brain short circuits, and merely pats him on the back before heading off. 

<3

It’s poetic, almost, how Jaemin goes back to the exact same spot that started this whole mess in the first place. 

“Hmmrrrghhh,” Jaemin says into the bar table. He’s not looking, but he’s sure Yangyang has an increasingly concerned look on his face as he wipes a rag over a wine glass. It’s a slow night tonight, leaving Jaemin freedom to make as many unintelligible dying noises as he wants.

“Uh...you okay there buddy?” Yangyang asks, and Jaemin tries to nod but ends up hitting his forehead against the bar table like an idiot. He sits up with a hiss, rubbing his forehead with a pout.

“Hey, you know the guy I came with last time?” Jaemin says, and Yangyang nods.

“I think...I think I have a crush on him,” Jaemin says, voice hushed like he’s revealing top secret information. To his surprise, Yangyang barely bats an eye, only breathing out a definitive sigh.

“Thank _god_ , it was about time you realized,” Yangyang says. Jaemin levels him with a disbelieving look. “Oh please, even a blind man could see the way you look at him.” 

Yangyang widens his eyes then, bats his eyelashes at what Jaemin assumes is what’s supposed to be an imitation of him which, first of all, is a total exaggeration. He doesn’t look at Donghyuck like that—does he?

“He looks at you like that too, y’know.” Yangyang says, and Jaemin raises an eyebrow.

“No he doesn’t,” Jaemin says. If he did, he would’ve noticed in their five years of friendship. 

“Oh but he does, you’re both just too dumb to realize it.” Yangyang replies bluntly. Jaemin opens his mouth to take offence, before he thinks it over.

“...You think?” Jaemin says in a small voice, and Yangyang nods slowly, like he’s explaining something to a child. Jaemin’s not sure how to interpret his exasperated expression.

“You know what else I think?” Yangyang asks. “I think you need to put on your big boy pants and ask him out on a date, because there’s no one more perfect for him than _you_ , and you need to realize that.”

Jaemin sucks in a breath. “ut what if I ruin everything and we never speak to each other again?” 

“Trust me when I say that won’t happen,” Yangyang says, “you’re both too whipped for each other for that anyways.”

A lightbulb goes off in Jaemin’s head then, because apparently this bar sparks a lot of inspiration in people. A mischevious grin grows on his face. 

“I have an idea,” he singsongs. Yangyang refills his drink before starting to walk away. 

“Good for you dude, just uh, don’t say it like that with that face. You’re gonna scare my customers away.” But Jaemin isn’t listening, already reaching out his phone to text Donghyuck.

  
  


<3

“How many times are you going to do this? I’m starting to think that I should just stay single,” Donghyuck says through the speaker. 

“This is the last time, I swear. I think you’ll really like this guy.” Jaemin says, honest.

He hears Donghyuck sigh from the other end of the line. “You said that the last three times.” The door to the cafe opens, the bell ringing loudly, and Jaemin watches the entrance with his heartbeat in his ears.

“I actually mean it this time, though. I’m one hundred percent sure you’ll get along.” Jaemin says, and glances down at himself. “Okay, he’s wearing a white sweater and blue jeans.” 

Donghyuck walks through the door then, eyes scanning the cafe before eventually landing on Jaemin sitting at the back of the cafe. He’s still holding up his phone to his face. “Uh, but _you’re_ wearing a white sweater and blue jeans.”

Jaemin grins at him, the kind of smile that makes him look just slightly off. “I know.” He says, and watches Donghyuck flush from head to toe as the lightbulb goes off in his head.

“O-oh.” He wheezes, caught off-guard. Jaemin smiles wider.

“If you’re wondering, I already got your coffee order.” Donghyuck’s still standing there in shock, and the slightest tinge of doubt runs through him—did he just ruin everything?

“...Medium vanilla latte with almond milk and extra foam?” 

“Of course.” Donghyuck lowers his phone then, a proper grin on his face, and Jaemin’s heart seizes at the way the fluorescent lights make Donghyuck’s eyes look _especially_ shiny as he walks over.

Jaemin thought it would be awkward, but it isn’t. It feels normal to watch Donghyuck try and fail not to ruin the design on his latte with fond eyes, feels normal when Donghyuck gets daring and tries Jaemin’s espresso only to scrunch his face up and reach for his sugary latte with frantic hands. The way Donghyuck looks at him is new, new because Jaemin has finally gained enough brain cells to notice it, but it feels right. This feels right.

They’re walking to Donghyuck’s place together, hand in hand, when Donghyuck speaks up. “Hey, I thought you were aiming to set me up with someone that’s _not_ an asshole?”

Jaemin gapes. “I just paid for your snooty ass latte and this is what you give me?” He whines while Donghyuck laughs, his shoulders shaking with the sound.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I will admit that this was definitely one of the best dates I’ve ever been on.” Jaemin stops walking then, Donghyuck stopping moments later.

“One of the best?” He asks, lowering his chin and flashing puppy eyes. What can he say? He’s competitive. 

Donghyuck, already used to this, rolls his eyes. “Fine,” he says, and raises their connected hands up to press Jaemin’s hand to his face. Jaemin splutters, caught off guard, and Donghyuck looks proud of himself.

“The best.”

  
  



End file.
